‘Narrow-sighted’ bridge rethink
Plans to narrow a Ka¯piti Coast ‘‘death trap’’ bridge to build a cycleway look like a cost-cutting exercise, the district’s mayor says.
K Gurunathan has urged the New Zealand Transport Agency [NZTA] to abandon the plan to narrow the Waikanae bridge, already described by locals as dangerously constricted.
The agency should return to the original plan – supported by council staff and the community – for clip-ons that would widen the bridge, he said.
NZTA spokesman Chris Hunt said the agency continued to work with the council on design proposals and the final design was yet to be agreed: ‘‘We will ensure that any design solution meets the appropriate standards and guidelines.’’
Last week, council members revealed the plans following a briefing from the transport agency – the first time they had heard them.
Councillor Michael Scott had said the two-lane bridge would become a death trap if narrowed and the preferred option for a cycleway was to use clip-ons to widen it.
‘‘If this goes through, I’ll be calling for NZTA resignations after the first death or injury accident.’’
Yesterday, Gurunathan said he wasn’t prepared to define the plan as a death trap and the agency was the expert in road safety.
The council understood the option to narrow the bridge would cost ‘‘a few hundred thousand [dollars] less . . .The community is not in the mood to accept lowering the safety standards."